Plug door control mechanism

ABSTRACT

Mechanism mounted on a railroad house car, side wall, for sliding a plug door lengthwise of the car in combination with a device mounted on the car wall for shifting the door transversely of an opening in the wall, there being means whereby the thrust of the door sliding mechanism is maintained in a direction parallel to the wall irrespective of the transverse shifting of the door relative to the wall.

United States Patent [191 Bollinger, Sr.

[ PLUG DOOR CONTROL MECHANISM [75] Inventor: Luther L. Bollinger, Sr., Reading,

[73] Assignee: Hennessy Products, Incorporated, Chambersburg, Pa.

' [22] Filed: Sept. 9, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 179,001

52 u.s.c|... ..49/362,49/220 51 Int.Cl ..E05f11/54,E05dl5/l0 [58] FieldofSearch ..49/218220,362

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,636,658 1/1972 Bollinger ..49/362 M JMarch 13, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 3,631 2/1968 Japan ..49/220 Primary Examiner.l. Karl Bell Attorney-Bede & Burgess [57] ABSTRACT Mechanism mounted on a railroad house car, side wall, for sliding a plug door lengthwise of the car in combination with a device mounted on the car wall for shifting the door transversely of an opening in the wall, there being means whereby the thrust of the door sliding mechanism is maintained in a direction parallel to the wall irrespective of the transverse shifting of the door relative to the wall.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures /1 l i 1 l a UDDDDDDDD PLUG DOOR CONTROL MECHANISM REFERENCE TO RELATED STRUCTURES:

The present application embodies improvements on structures described in earlier applications, Ser. No. 32,049 filed Apr. 27, 1970, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,636,658 and Ser. No. 87,856 tiled Nov. 9, 1970, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,552. In the first of these applications the door and the door sliding mechanism may be held rigidly in offset relation by a locking pin which must be manipulated manually when the door is again shifted transversely. In the other application a torsion spring is utilized to automatically engage and disengage cooperating pin and slot elements which are subject to wear affecting their operation. In the present structure the mechanism for sliding the door along the wall is positively controlled by a positioning rod between same and an upright shaft journaled on the door and assuming different positions when the door is shifted.

Among the objects of the invention are to avoid the necessity of a workman manipulating elements on the door sliding mechanism when the door is shifted transversely of the wall; and to avoid reliance upon a spring or closely fitting pin and slot elements for holding the door and sliding mechanism in fixed angular relation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one longitudinal half of a railway house car with a door opening in its side wall and a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of the opening and slidable lengthwise of the wall to a position spaced from the opening.

FIG. 2 is a detail horizontal section on line 22 of FIG. 1 and drawn to a larger scale and showing the plug door in closed position.

FIG. 3 is a similar section with the door shifted transversely of the wall and outwardly of the door opening.

FIG. 4 is a similar section but showing the door slid lengthwise of the car away from the door opening.

The car body includes an underframe 1 and a side wall 3 having the usual door opening normally closed by a door 5. A track 7 on the car body mounts wheeled carriages 8, 9. Upright shafts 10, 11 have crank arms 12, 13 with outer ends journaled in carriages 8, 9. The shafts are journaled on and support the door.

Well known mechanism M is actuated manually to.

rotate shafts l0, 11 on the door to swing the supporting crank arms 12, 13 about crank pins 17, 18 in carriages 8, 9 and thereby shift the door between the positions shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. n

An endless roller chain 21 is engaged by a sprocket 22 and a similar gear in a housing 24. A hand wheel 25 on gear shaft 23 drives the chain in opposite directions to slide the door forwardly or rearwardly. An elbow shaped member 27 is pivotally connected at one end by a link 28 to a slide 29 on chain 21. The other end of member 27 is pivotally connected to a bracket 30 on the door. A positioning rod 31 is pivotally connected at one end to the intermediate portion of member 27 and at its other end to a short crank 32 on shaft 11.

After shafts 10, 11 and crank arms 12, 13 are operated to shift the door from the FIG. 2 position to the FIG. 3 position, member 27, link 28 and rod 31 form a substantially rigid unit because these elements cannot pivot on each other except by operation of mechanism M. Hence subsequent movement of chain 21 by clockwise rotation of hand wheel 25 will apply thrust to the door in a direction parallel to the car wall. There will be no tendency on the part of the door sliding mechanism to pull the door toward the side of the car or against the chain, thus attaining the major objects of the invention.

Reverse movement of the hand wheel and chain returns the door to the FIG. 3 position whereupon shaft 11 may be rotated by mechanism M to shift the door into the wall opening. Member 27, link 28 and rod 31 will offer no resistance to this transverse shifting because of their pivotal connections to each other and to the door.

The combination of door shifting and sliding mechanisms contemplates the substitution of a rack and gear, as shown in the earlier mentioned applications, in place of the chain and sprocket described above, and the structure may be varied otherwise without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

I claim:

1. The combination ofa railway boxcar having a side wall with a door opening and a track extending lengthwise of the car below said opening, carriages on said track, a door mounted on said carriages, a structure for shifting said door transversely of said carriages and track into and out of said opening, mechanism for moving said carriages and door along said track when said door is positioned outwardly thereof, and a device between said structure and mechanism holding the door against movement transversely of the track when said door is in said outward position.

2. The combination described in claim 1 in which mechanism for sliding the door along the car wall comprises an endless chain paralleling the wall and positioned between the wall and the door when the latter is moved away from the door opening. 1

3. In a railroad car, a side wall having a door opening, a track on said wall, a carriage movable along said track, an upright shaft provided with a crank arm pivoted on said carriage, a door joumaling said shaft and supported thereby, a crank on said shaft above said carriage, mechanism for sliding the door along the car wall and including a thrust arm pivotally connected at its ends to the door and to said mechanism respectively to accommodate such transverse shifting of the door, and a strut between said crank and the intermediate portion of said arm and holding said arm against pivoting relative to the door and said mechanism when said shaft holds said door in its outside position.

4. In combination with a railroad car side wall having a door opening, a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of said opening, a track on the wall extending lengthwise thereof, a carriage on said track, an upright door-mounting shaft with a supporting crank arm pivoted on said carriage and having a crank spaced above said arm, force-multiplying mechanism on the side wall including a slide movable lengthwise of the wall, a member having connections at its ends to said door and said slide respectively to move said door lengthwise of the wall, said connections being pivotal to accommodate shifting of the door transversely of the wall, a link pivotably connected at its ends to said member and to said crank and holding said member along the track.

6. A combination as described in claim 5 in which the connecting member may incline relative to the side wall but said member will be held rigid with the door except when the shaft-rotating means is actuated. 

1. The combination of a railway boxcar having a side wall with a door opening and a track extending lengthwise of the car below said opening, carriages on said track, a door mounted on said carriages, a structure for shifting said door transversely of said carriages and track into and out of said opening, mechanism for moving said carriages and door along said track when said door is positioned outwardly thereof, and a device between said structure and mechanism holding the door against movement transversely of the track when said door is in said outward position.
 1. The combination of a railway boxcar having a side wall with a door opening and a track extending lengthwise of the car below said opening, carriages on said track, a door mounted on said carriages, a structure for shifting said door transversely of said carriages and track into and out of said opening, mechanism for moving said carriages and door along said track when said door is positioned outwardly thereof, and a device between said structure and mechanism holding the door against movement transversely of the track when said door is in said outward position.
 2. The combination described in claim 1 in which mechanism for sliding the door along the car wall comprises an endless chain paralleling the wall and positioned between the wall and the door when the latter is moved away from the door opening.
 3. In a railroad car, a side wall having a door opening, a track on said wall, a carriage movable along said track, an upright shaft provided with a crank arm pivoted on said carriage, a door journaling said shaft and supported thereby, a crank on said shaft above said carriage, mechanism for sliding the door along the car wall and including a thrust arm pivotally connected at its ends to the door and to said mechanism respectively to accommodate such transverse shifting of the door, and a strut between said crank and the intermediate portion of said arm and holding said arm against pivoting relative to the door and said mechanism when said shaft holds said door in its outside position.
 4. In combination with a railroad car side wall having a door opening, a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of said opening, a track on the wall extending lengthwise thereof, a carriage on said track, an upright door-mounting shaft with a supporting crank arm pivoted on said carriage and having a crank spaced above said arm, force-multiplying mechanism on the side wall including a slide movable lengthwise of the wall, a member having connections at its ends to said door and said slide respectively to move said door lengthwise of the wall, said connections being pivotal to accommodate shifting of the door transversely of the wall, a link pivotably connected at its ends to said member and to said crank and holding said member against pivoting during movement of the door lengthwise of the side wall.
 5. A combination as described in claim 4 which includes means for rotating the upright shaft and its supporting crank arm to shift the door transversely of the side wall independently of movement of the carriage along the track. 